Depp describes weirdest shoot

December 30, 2007

NEW YORK — In a career that has included drunk pirates and scissor hands, Johnny Depp says the strangest scene he's ever filmed is a simple flashback in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

The movie is based on Stephen Sondheim's musical about a murderous barber, and Depp had scant singing experience.

But it wasn't the singing that scared Depp. It was a flashback to young Sweeney's happy life before he was sent to prison by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman).

It's arguably the most normal scene in the movie, and both Depp and director Tim Burton could hardly stomach it.

"I think that was the weirdest thing I ever had to shoot," Depp said in a recent interview. "[Burton] literally was sobbing. He left the set of his own movie."

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Personals was compiled by Alan Leo from Tribune news services and staff reports.